Write It Down

Watching pelicans at Horn Rapids (May 2015)

Do you ever have a conversation with someone and they remind you of something they've told you before but you completely forgot it? That happened over the weekend. At the moment he told me, I made a mental note that it was important for me to write it down somewhere. Here.

 

I'm not even sure how we got to the topic but my hubby reminded me that his mom enrolled him in the Arthur Murray School of Dance when he was a kid.

 

Now, I do remember him telling me that before but that little factoid was buried somewhere in my mind and if he had never brought it up again, it's a piece of information that I would forget about him. He told me that back in the day his mom  loved all things free. We got a good chuckle out of that.

 

Maybe it's because we attended the birthday party of a 6 year old yesterday at the arcade. All last week I kept thinking our friends' son was turning five. Time does not stand still for anyone.

 

I'm here to encourage anyone who reads this to write stuff down. Take a picture. Print it. Write about the day it was taken. Leave it somewhere you can see it later. Our lives get full and these wonderful facts about our loved ones get buried. 

 

Listen to people. Really hear what they are saying. Take it in. Enjoy it. Remember it.

 

love, susan

 

 

 

Have Fun Having Fun

Accountability. I've always hated that word. However, I have learned to use it to my advantage.

I have an accountability partner who helps me lean into the word and not hate it so much. We have an agreement to stay accountable to each other when the abyss of winter sets in. After a brief text this last week, I knew it was time to check in with her and it worked for me  and I think for her as well.

HOW IT'S DONE
When I have too many things to do, I get overwhelmed easily. I've found that making a list is what works best for me. I love lists but they are only as good as the paper they are written on if I don't complete the tasks.

To Do List:
Laundry - sheets, towels, work clothes, jeans
Make both beds
Pay bills
Put away all stuff laying around
Meal prep: bake chicken, cup up veggies

I sensed my accountability partner was feeling the same way so I texted her a photo of my to-do list along with photos of the worst areas of my castle that required my attention. When I didn't hear back from her right away, I knew she was sleeping in but as soon as she woke up, I was sure she'd be on board. She was! And, she sent me her list. We both got busy and texted our progress. We always encourage each other to do something to reward ourselves in between all the chores. Yesterday she watched Project Runway while I did a little reading on my Kindle. I had decided to make noon time my cutoff for my chores. After 12, my hubby and I planned to take a Sunday drive.

In one of her last texts, she said have fun having fun. Doesn't that just hit the nail on the head? For me, having someone who understands what I need in order to get things done is fun. I enjoy the process. It doesn't matter if it's work or play, it's all about the process for me. So, this morning I'm enjoying knowing that I have a great lunch packed for today, chicken all ready for tacos or Thai fried rice for dinner. I slept in clean sheets last night and all the laundry got folded.

What is fun for you?

love, susan

Unbranded

Last night we attended a special screening of the film, "Unbranded". I normally wouldn't go to a movie on a work night but a friend had posted about this movie on FB and they needed to sell at least 80 tickets to get the movie here for screening. They doubled those sales and moved it to a larger screen. Yeah, Tricities!

 

This film is worth seeing. It is an entertaining documentary of four young cowboy friends fresh out of college who act on the idea to adopt a dozen wild mustangs from the government adoption program, train them and ride them from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. And, they take us along for the ride. The jaunt takes them six months.

 

WHAT I LEARNED is that the growing population of mustangs is causing a problem not only for ranchers in the west but for the horses themselves. There simply is not enough ground food for free range cattle and the wild horses. There are groups on both sides of the issue and this film does a nice job bringing that to the public eye in a careful manner that doesn't evoke hate or controversy. It left me thinking about how difficult it must be for both ranchers and horse lovers who don't want to see these beautiful animals locked up in corrals, which is the only thing they can do right now to remedy the problem. There was very little talk of a sterilization program. The solution was not what this film intended to portray. I think the producers did a great job going right down the middle of the problem, laying it out there for people to look at and talk about. I definitely will be paying more attention when I hear people talking about this topic.

 

For me, the movie was filled with beautiful scenes and moving photography that made me envious of the film makers. The ride through the Grand Canyon was a nail biter and I had to cover my eyes in places because it was harrowing. But it was gorgeous!

Bottom line:  See this film when you have a chance.

love, susan

An Ode to Angie

November is gratitude month for many of us. I'm not going to go on and on every day about all the things I'm grateful for but I can't help writing a bit about someone who has made my life so much better.  My housekeeper, Angie.

 

I hired her about a year and a half ago. It was an anxiety causing decision. I'm sure, as a woman, she probably knows that. Who invites another woman into their home to see all their dirty laundry? And pay them for it? Yeah. I could hear my mother's voice. What's wrong with you? Can't you clean your own house? Nobody is ever going to marry you. Why would you pay someone to do what you "should" be doing? I've annihilated that voice in the last 18 months with the help of Angie.

 

Angie visits my home every other Tuesday. I'm a better person for having her come and do the things I am terrible at doing. She leaves my wood floors so soft that the first thing I do on the day she comes is take my shoes and socks off and just walk on the floors. She's not here to hear me giggle about that. My bathroom sparkles which is something I've never accomplished, not even once, in my lifetime. I try to always send her a text to let her know how much I value her but I feel it's never enough.

 

She's also given me some good ideas. One idea early on in our working relationship, she asked me to find a place to hang my ironing board to get it up off the floor and out of the way. Simple idea that never occurred to me. She arranges my pillows so sweetly that I'm a better bed maker because of her. Last month, she suggested I find a book shelf so I could have a place for the few books I intend to read someday and a place for my plants in my home office. I finally found what I was looking for last weekend.

 

I'm still a terrible housekeeper butI'm not afraid to admit that any longer because of Angie. She's an expert at what she does. I'd rather spend my time doing something else that I'm good at.  It's a relationship I hope lasts a lifetime. Angie, thank you!

 

Who are you grateful for?

 

love, susan

 



Five Days Older

I got to my work desk early yesterday morning and out of nowhere a flood of tears came. I had just said goodbye to my long time high school friend and a five-day vacation getaway. I haven't quite figured out why it hit me so hard but I was definitely not ready to be sitting at work. Luckily, I went to work a half hour early so I could adjust my otherwise vacationing mind to the fact that I was back at what my husband calls "the law factory".

 

Vacation was good for me. My high school friends and I had planned this trip months ago. There wasn't much for me to do except write it on the calendar. Brenda took care of the hotel reservations (I had forgotten she had a travel agency business in her past life). All I had to do was scoop up our other friend, Kathy, from the airport and drive us to Spokane for three nights of our 2nd Annual Great Girlfriend Getaway.

 

In my life experience, it's not easy to find good fellow travelers but these two friends are above and beyond good travel mates. Three days together could wear on some people but it didn't with us. We talked, ate great food, shared recipes, revisited the old days, kicked our feet up, laughed out loud and saw a bit of Spokane.

 

Above all that, I learned that Brenda writes an email to her mother every single day. I marveled at this and thought about it a lot. In a world that seems so instant and fleeting, I'll bet she and her mom have racked up hundreds of emails back and forth that will remain forever. As a writer, I freaking love that. Brenda talked about a road trip she is taking with her recently retired husband across the U.S. to see family on the east coast. I am so envious.

 

Kathy and I got to spend an extra two special days together at my house. We brought home a pile of tomatoes and butternut squash from Brenda's garden. One of my favorite moments from the weekend will forever be spending time in my kitchen, making a new recipe for squash alfredo with my good friend. We also whipped up a batch of homemade spaghetti sauce with Brenda's recipe .... a first for both of us. It turned out great.  Kathy recently retired. She is enjoying her newfound freedom and it shows. Both these friends are paving the way for me for when it's my turn to turn in my work badge. Love that!

 

Me? I'm coming down from cloud nine this morning as I write this. I'll truly look forward to the next adventures with these fine friends. There is a lot of life left in all of us to live. I look forward to seeing them again ... sooner rather than later ... to see what they've filled their days with.  Living forward.

 

In the end, we are all five days older. Isn't it a wonderful thing when you get to sometimes be on the path with people you love?

 

love, susan

Manito Gardens in Spokane, WA

Conservatory at Manito Gardens

Riverfront Park in Spokane, WA

Apple Store in downtown Spokane

Oil & Vinegar store at downtown mall Spokane

Riverfront Park, Spokane

Chinese Lantern Festival, Spokane

Saw an owl mid-day at McNary Wildlife Refuge
on a walk with Kathy

Free the Wang Campout 2015 ... and other musings

Another great weekend at the Oregon coast with family. It never grows old. A nice reprieve from a busy life. Even if it is for only one day, the 600 mile roundtrip car drive is worth the price of winding down and getting away from it all. The car ride is part of the adventure.

 

I'm amazed how quickly the daily stresses of life fall off when we get to the beach. This trip I found a little turtle shell on the beach, that was a first. We heard sea lions barking all Saturday night, another first. There was a cougar sighting at our campground a couple days prior to our arrival. Another first for that spot. Weird.

 

I think this may be the 6th year of our annual campout. It has been so much fun to watch the kids grow into teens. Two of them are seniors this year.  Eeek. I felt a lump in my throat thinking about what that will be mean for next year. It was suggested that maybe we try another campground next year. Perhaps that will take our minds off the fact that maybe they won't have time for us any longer.


Next week, my high school buddy from Alaska will be coming to visit and we're heading over to meet another friend for a weekend spree in Spokane. As my favorite readers may know, I'm not a future tripper but I am here to tell you that I look forward to that weekend very much.


Isn't it the best when you have something to look forward to? It doesn't have to be a big trip or an expensive concert. I'm going to my friend's house on Thursday night to meet her chickens. I've got agility class tonight. Coffee with a friend tomorrow night. What's on your calendar that you are looking forward to? 

 

love, susan

Power Tools:

Last week my hubby mentioned something about the food processor I have sitting up in the cupboard. He has been eyeing the huge zucchini we brought indoors and wanting to shred them. He loves zucchini bread but more so I believe he loves a good power tool.  He's never used the processor before so this morning I pulled it out, set it up, gave a short demo and he got right to work. That man shredded enough to make twelve batches of zucchini bread/cake/brownies. Little does he know, I usually end up throwing out a couple of frozen containers of the zucchini in the spring because we can only eat so much of it. Was I going to stop him?  Hell, no!

Now, I have to tell you that smack dab in the middle of shredding, my power tool wielding hubby sneezed. No hand over his mouth, no turning away from the project, no awareness whatsoever that he had done anything wrong. 

EEEEEK!

Listen up, friends.  When someone is doing you a favor, you don't criticize them. Okay? You just don't.  However, please note that I will not be bringing zucchini bread to the potluck. As a matter of fact, I haven't brought homemade food anywhere for a long time. I have dogs and I'd die if you found a dog hair in one of my dishes. Dog people will understand this.  Not the point of this post ... I digress.

Last week, my main squeeze cooked dinner twice and I should have taken a picture of it to show you the love and care he took in plating it. He even went so far as to slice the pork steak into large, bite-sized pieces. The honey dew and watermelon on the side almost made me cry. That plate was a thing of beauty.

It's been a tough couple of weeks at work as we are short-handed. Several of my co-workers have been so gracious to help out and has made the wait for a new work buddy bearable. She'll arrive September 8th.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of all the power tools I have in my life. Of them, the most powerful are the words Please and Thank You.

Note to self:  Be gracious. Be grateful. Be Kind. Be generous. What would you add to this? What are your power tools?

love, susan

Limner, This One's for You!

Happy National Dog Day!   Every day is dog day at our house. We don't need no stinking holiday to celebrate the wonderfulness of our fur kids.

 

A big shout out to my pen pal, Limner (over at Oh Write Me), for her nice notecard saying she misses my blog posts. I miss them, too. There are not enough hours in the day to do all the things I wish to accomplish. I can count on one hand how many posts I've written this summer. It isn't that we haven't been busy, I just haven't written about it. My excuses are as follow:

 

I made a new year's resolution to read 52 books this year. I've dedicated early mornings to reading at least 30 minutes but 45 is better. That means I haven't been journaling, blogging, or letter writing. Note: I started this year choosing a theme word. This year I chose the word create.  In that, more than material creations, I've made time to get out and do some things I've only been talking about in the past.

 

I have set aside Monday evenings for photo shoots. I invite anyone who is willing to sit still for photos to meet me at a location. This week I hit the dog park with a co-worker and got some great shots of her dog along with mine. Other Mondays, I met friends of friends at the park to shoot family photos, I made a house call to a very pregnant lady, a friend and her son who was going off to boot camp, etc. I feel like my mission is being accomplished in the creative department in so many ways.

To date, I've finished reading 12 books. I am not deterred by the fact that I most likely will not read 52 books by December 31st.

A huge thank you to my loyal pen pal for the nice note and inspiration to write a post. This blog is a great documentation of the great life I have. It's a better idea for me to write than try to keep it in my forgetting mind.  If you're reading this, Limner, I'll be getting back to you on those questions you asked in the last long letter you wrote. Don't give up on me.  :-)

love, susan

 

Wanderlust: The Cure

Susan and Gene

A quick weekend trip to the coast to cool off from the last three solid weeks of 100+ degree days was just what we needed. I'm glad I threw in my hoodie because I needed it once we got to the Oregon coast. I am a princess and have a very small window of comfort when it comes to temperature.

 

To our surprise, there were lots of whales spouting in Boiler Bay when we stopped on Saturday morning.  On our way home today, we only spotted one but we were thrilled.



Oregon Coast

Even though it was a long way to drive for cool air, a trip to the beach is never wasted. A travel tip I'd offer is that if you've worked all day and can get off work a little early, a 4-5 hour drive is just about enough. We overnighted in Salem and hit the road early Saturday morning (a mere 2 hour drive) so we could spend the entire day cooling off. We enjoyed a short nap in the afternoon and after meeting some like-minded friends, we stopped at our very favorite Newport Café for dinner before retiring.

 

On the way home, some dear friends who were on their honeymoon near where we were, honked at us as they flew past us. I'm still smiling about that! Love birds in a jeep. We're so happy for them!

 

Hope you did something fun this weekend. If not, you have time to plan something for next weekend, right?  love, susan

Devil's Punch Bowl at low tide

Be There .... I Can Do That

Summer fun has set in and we've been gone a lot. The good news is we found a summer house/dog sitter who is wonderful and available, which means we can go places on the weekends without having to drag the dogs to the kennel. They hate it there and it makes us feel bad to take them. Win/Win for us and our new sitter. She is a teen who loves to watch Netflix and eat frozen burritos. I can do that. 

 

Not everything is wonderful right now and I've been kind of numb lately. Too many friends and family members are going through tough times and they are on my mind constantly. Serious stuff. Chronic illness, family issues, financial strife.

 

This week my beautiful, smart, funny daughter-in-law was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. I'm okay talking about it here. That cat is out of the bag now and I'm glad it is not a secret. Since I'm the queen of denial, I have refused to think about it very much but it creeps in and then it's all I can think about. Fortunately, she assured me that if one has to have cancer, this is the kind to have. I think she said that to me ... or ... did my denial just make that up? At any rate, we are all glad she finally has some answers to many questions she has had the last year. She says it is curable. I'm running with that.

 

As to my other friends who are struggling, I feel so powerless.  But I'm not. The one thing I can do is be available. It's about the only thing but that's worth something.  When I worked at hospice, I learned from the grief counselor that sometimes all we can do is provide a warm silence.  Be there. Words are not always necessary. Just be there.

 

I can do that. I love you.

 

love, susan

Lessons Learned

I feel like I was transported to another world this weekend. Here I sit on Monday morning, thinking about the week ahead and smiling about the events in my life the last couple of days.

 

Friday was a good day! Some of my most favorite friends gathered after work Friday night at the park for a BBQ. It was my birthday and it's really all I wanted. I keep telling them we should gather for the sake of it but it seems like the only time we do is for some special occasion. I'm 56 now. In my mind, I'm still 25. I have to admit I'm starting to feel physically old.

 

Saturday night we drove out to a country barbeque to do a photo shoot for a friend whose daughter is graduating from high school. It was big fun and I was transported to  times when our family gets together for an outdoor party. Hubby came with me and we sincerely enjoyed meeting my friend's extended family and creating some documentation of the evening. I've never seen so many beautiful people in one gathering.  

 

I love being a weekend photographer.

 

There are so many things to learn and every time I go out with my camera I feel like I'm building on what I've already learned. Saturday night I got schooled by a young girl. I could see it in her face so I just asked her if she was tired of me taking her picture. Her sweet, polite response said it all.  Lesson learned. Kids just wanna have fun and not have to stop to smile for the stupid camera. Thankfully, I know when to stop.

 

The other lesson I'm learning is to delete pictures that don't make the grade. It is probably the hardest part of photography for me. I only took about 140 photos Saturday night. The weekend before I shot 600+ at the wedding. Too many. When I open them up, I am attached to them and have a hard time hitting the delete button. My mentor says when she is working for the studio, she does the shoot and sends the card in for someone else to edit, someone who isn't emotionally attached to each shot. Each image should tell a story. It's all business for a studio.  For me ... oh my gosh ... deleting photos is like erasing the fact that I was there. Must work on this.

 

How about you?  Were you transported last weekend?  Where did you go? What did you do?  Do you cringe when you delete photos?  Tell me!

 

love, susan